Porcupine Meatballs are rice filled meatballs cooked in a tomato based sauce. Simple, hearty and delicious! A perfect meal for family and friends!
Porcupine Meatballs have been on my mind for 2 years now, and I finally took the time to create this recipe.
I’m not sure why I delayed playing with this recipe.
I suspect that as with many recipes, I make it, want to tweak it, make it again, want to tweak it and thus goes the cycle until I figure out the way that we like it best and add it to the website.
I never imagined that I’d get the recipe pretty close my first try and spot on my second!
That doesn’t always happen!
But I’ve got to say these were quite tasty and something we all enjoyed for dinner AND lunch the next day.
And really they are quite easy to make!
A few years ago, when we first moved to Minnesota, a fellow food blogger, Sheena, from Hot Eat Cool Reads invited us over to dinner and made Porcupine Meatballs.
She’s an amazing cook and I thought the Porcupine meatballs were quite tasty and very much enjoyed our meal.
We’ve since become good friends and allies in this crazy world of food blogs and she’s a resource to me in so many ways!
Dinner at her home was the first time I’d ever had Porcupine Meatballs or really even heard of them.
Not wanting to steal her recipe, I did some digging and realized that most recipes are fairly similar.
The basics of a classic meatball with rice covered in a tomato soup mixture and baked.
The catch to creating this recipe is creating the right balance of flavors in not only the meatballs but also the sauce.
The biggest issue is making sure there is enough liquid in the meatball as well as the sauce so that the rice can get enough moisture without drying out the meatball.
Because as we all know, a dry meatball does not an enjoyable meal.
It makes a meal that is enjoyed by the garbage can or the dog.
My family all agreed that these Porcupine meatballs were flavorful, moist and a hearty meal that kept us all full all night long – avoiding those pesky midnight snacks!
Please tell me we aren’t the only ones who snack at night.
We are really bad at it.
We tend to eat dinner at around 5:30 every night because my kids are starving.
This wouldn’t be an issue if my husband and I weren’t night owls!
But since we stay up so late, we tend to get hungry, having not eaten since 5:30!
This meal was a great way to hold us over as well as reheated well the next day for lunch!
If you are looking for a family favorite meal that even my kids ate, then this is a winner!
Porcupine Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 Tablespoon diced yellow onion
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- pinch of black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/3 cup uncooked Jasmine rice
- 1/2 cup + 1 cup milk, divided
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 (10 ounce) cans condensed tomato soup
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
Instructions
In a bowl, mix hamburger, onion, salt, pepper & rice.
Add 1/2 cup milk and mix well, until milk is completely mixed in.
Shape into balls, approximately the size of 2 tablespoons.
Heat oil in a skillet.
Add meatballs and gently brown (do not cook through).
In a separate bowl, combine tomato soup, 1 cup milk & Worcestershire sauce.
Pour this over the meatballs and bake covered for 35 minutes.
Serve over mashed potatoes or rice.
Leslie
Friday 25th of August 2017
what was the temperature baked at?
delmer
Tuesday 21st of February 2017
not only can you use mashed potatos or rice but a pasta of your choice would work also. with a side of cheesy brocali
Janelle
Monday 6th of March 2017
Thanks for your comment Delmer! You are right, all those sound great!
Carolyn Bragg
Tuesday 8th of November 2016
We have always made our handball-sized Porcupine Meatballs in a pressure cooker, then cut them up on the plate, served with green beans.
I saw the picture of them on mashed potatoes and asked, "Isn't rice OR potatoes a rule?" My Mom said, "I thought it was." Funny what people think about food!
Janelle
Wednesday 9th of November 2016
Carolyn, I've never actually ever heard of rice or potatoes being a rule. Not to say it isn't but this is new to me. Plus who says you have to play by the rules! I'm all about breaking the rules and venturing outside the norm every once in a while! We almost always do mashed potatoes with meatballs and so it was just a natural side dish for us. However not required. LOL. I'm so glad you commented as this is a new saying to me!